Soil Moisture Mapping sUAS

The focus of this CCRPP proposal is on commercializing two key technologies of the Soil Moisture Mapping small Unmanned Aircraft System (SMM sUAS) SBIR project; (1) the L-band radiometer and (2) the SuperSwift sUAS. These two technologies represent the bulk of the work in Phase II and Phase II-E. Black Swift Technologies (BST) has identified a strong customer need for these technologies. The majority of the investment is coming from a NASA program while the non-NASA portion of the investment aligns well with NASA interests for future work. The CCRPP funds will accelerate getting the technology to into both NASA programs and into the hands of commercial customers. There are four different entities investing in this CCRPP. These entities are also customers of the technology. BST has also identified and had discussions with 6 other potential customers of the technology that will result from this project. The group of investors and customers have strongly steered the needs of this technology. The combination of the investments and the proposed CCRPP match will enable expansion of the technology to a wider commercial market. The customer/investor base includes applications in three areas; satellite cal/val, precision agriculture, and wildland firefighting.

This is a mature technology (TRL 9) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.